Foot warmer



Jan. 6, 1948. E. s. WlNN, SR 2,434,188

FOOT WARMER Filed June 11,1946

INVENTOR. IDs/M61 MM! 5'? BY Jaw/m A TTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 6, 1948 @UNITED :S TATES PATENT OFF ICE FOOT WARMER Elisha =Starr -Winn, Sn, Fitzgerald, Ga.

Application June 11,

:Claims. '1

This invention relates to a foot wa'rmerand has forits objectto provide afoot warmer which is very inexpensive and simple in .construction and operation, and utilizes not morethan two specially made parts in-combination with other parts of standard construction readily available on the market.

A further object of thlsinvention is to provide a foot warmer of the'type shown in the -U. S.

more simple and inexpensive-to manufacture and assemble.

A-st'illfurther object of this invention is to 'pro- 'videa footwarmer utilizin-ga majority of standard parts which "are readily and -*inexpensively "available on "the market.

Yet a iurther object of thisinvention is to provide a one piecespring clamp for holding a conventional electric lightbulband socketwithin an ordinary "fruit or Mason jar, with thewires to the bulb extending through an insulating grommet in'the jar coveror throughanopening in the cover made entirely of insulation material.

A still further object of-this invention is to provide abulb and socket holding one-piece clamp which may be used 'by anyone in assembling-a footwarmer of :readily available materials and partsjbymerely combining the clamp with a bulb and socket connected by wires-to a source of electricity, and a "Mason-or fruit 'jar and cover by making "a hole" through the "cover for the wires to pass through, possibly taping the wires to protect and insulate them "at the point the wirespassthrough the hole in the cover.

A further object 'of'thisinvention is to provide means .for sustaining the electric socket and heating element, which heatingelement maybe a lamp bulb; at about mid-point within the jar without the socket and heating element being solidly attached to the cap-of the jar,-thereby assuring uniform temperature within the *jar and uniformxtemper-atureof -each end of the jar.

With' all of the 1 above *mentloned objects and 'advantages of the invention invi-ew, I'have disclosed in the accompanying-drawing forming a part of this specification an embodiment of the foot'warmer made in accordance with .the principles-of the present invention, and in 'the'draw- 2 Figfiii is a perspective view :of the spring :clamp of this invention; and

Fig. isa sectional view on lines- 4 of Fig. ;.2. Thereis shown at the light bulb and bulb .5 :socketholding spring clamp of thisinvention, "This clamp H} consists of a pair of arms ll in tegrally joined together by a substantially semicircular cross arm 12 which continues beyond "the arms l- [in the "form: of curved spring. fingers 10 2-3 whese ends are'slightlyspaced apart; thus forming almost a'complete circle. The inside diameter'ofthe curvature of the cross arm 12 and the curvedfingers I3 is aboutequal to or slightly less than the outside diameterofthe -15 neck leer "a standard light bulb socket 16 so that they maybe temporarily sprung apart and then'embrace and securely hold such a socket IB "therebetween.

The arms H are offset at I! from the cross 20 arm 1 2 so as to extend substantially in parallel along the sides of-the socket I 6 and then extend asuitable length, and on the other side of the cross arms l"2,the arms I I flare outwardly from =-each-other asat l8, the overall length of the arms "I I "being substantially equal to the inside -length-of the Mason or fruit jar 20 in which the invention is used. This conventional fruit jar 20 is oi'any standard size, such as a quart, twoquart, or gallon size, and the clamp l0 maybe -made in diiierent sizes for different jars, ora large sized clamp may be cut down to fit a smaller jar by-clipping oil the ends at appropriate distance. A hole 2| is cut through a jar cover l9-and=may be provided with an insulation '35 --grommet22,- or alternatively insulation tape may be wound around the wires 23 where they extend through the cover and lead from the socket l6 -to-the-plug 2'4 for connection to any standard electric receptacle 2-5. If the cover '19 happens A0 to be of an insulating material, such as a plastic material or Bakelite or the like, only a smoothly "round hole is needed therethrough.

-Inoperation, the foot warmer providedbythis *inventionis intended for use me bed'as'shown in Fig. 1. A conventionalsocket [6 has its neck +5 inserted'betweenthecurved spring fingers I 3 1 of the clamp m; the wires '23 being passed through-the opening '2] of a fruit jar cover l9, insulated by the grommet 22 or by tape, if-necessary,-ifithe cover does not already happen to be made of Bakelite orthe like insulation "material. A lamp bulb 26, preferably 'l -watts, in the socket l6, provides the necessary warmth when placed within the fruit jar 20. The cover I9 5 placed on the fruit jar 20 presses against the ends of the parallel arms of the clamp I ll, causing the flared arms l8 to yieldably press against the inside of the bottom of the jar, thus holding the clamp firmly in place within the closed jar, ready for use as shown in Fig. 1.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For use in a foot warmer having a heating element; an electric socket holding clamp of resilient material adapted to be placed in a standardized container of the fruit jar type, the container having a removable cover which may be perforated to permit electric wires to the socket to extend therethrough, said clamp comprising a pair of arms flaring somewhat outwardly from about their mid-point and being longer than the internal height of the container, a semi-circular cross arm integrally securing said pair of arms together at about their mid-point, and a pair of curved fingers on said arms circumferentially aligned with said semi-circular cross arm, the diameter of the arcuate curve provided by said cross arm and curved fingers being not greater than the diameter of the neck of the electric socket.

2. A foot warmer comprising a heating element electric socket holding clamp of resilient material in combination with a container of the fruit jar type, the container having a removable cover perforated to permit electric Wires to the socket to extend therethrough, said clamp comprising a pair of arms, a semi-circular cross arm integrally securing said pair of arms together at about their mid-point, and a pair of curved fingers on said arms circumferentially aligned with said semi-circular cross arm, the diameter of the arcuate curve provided by said cross arm and curved fingers being not greater than the diameter of the neck of the electric socket, said pair of arms being of an overall length to extend from the inside of the bottom of the container to the inside of the closed cover of the container and to resiliently press thereagainst when the cover is in closed position.

3. A foot warmer comprising a heating element electric socket holding clamp of resilient material in combination with a container of the fruit jar type, the container having a removable cover perforated to permit electric Wires to the socket to extend therethrough, said clamp comprising a pair of arms, a semi-circular cross arm integrally securing said pair of arms together at about their mid-point, and a pair of curved fingers on said arms circumferentially aligned with said semicircular cross arm, the diameter of the arcuate curve provided by said cross arm and curved fingers being not greater than the diameter of the neck of the electric socket, said pair of arms being of an overall length to extend from the inside of the bottom of the container to the inside of the closed cover of the container and to resiliently press thereagainst when the cover is in closed position, the bottom ends of said pair of arms being flared toward the sides of the container.

4. A foot warmer comprising a heating element electric socket holding clamp of resilient material in combination with a container of the fruit jar type, the container having a removable cover perforated to permit electric wires to the socket to extend therethrough, said clamp comprising a pair of arms, a semi-circular cross arm integrally securing said pair of arms together at about their mid-point, and a pair of curved fingers on said arms circumferentially aligned with said semi-circular cross arm, the diameter of the arcuate curve provided by said cross arm and curved fingers being not greater than the diameter of the neck of the electric socket, said pair of arms being of an overall length to extend from the inside of the bottom of the container to the inside of the closed cover of the container and to resiliently press thereagainst when the cover is in closed position, the bottom ends of said pair of arms being flared toward the sides of the container, the pair of arms being offset just above said cross arm to substantially parallel portions spaced apart a distance at least as great as the diameter of the body of the socket and of the electric heating element carried thereby.

5. A foot warmer comprising a heating element electric socket holding clamp of resilient material in combination with a container of the fruit jar type, the container having a removable cover perforated to permit electric wires to the socket to extend therethrough, said clamp comprising a pair of arms, a semi-circular cross arm integrally securing said pair of arms together at about their mid-point, and a pair of curved fingers on said arms circumferentially aligned with said semi-circular cross arm, the diameter of the arcuate curve provided by said cross arm and curved fingers being not greater than the diameter of the neck of the electric socket, said pair of arms being of an overall length to extend from the inside of the bottom of the container to the inside of the closed cover of the container and to resiliently press thereagainst when the cover is in closed position, the bottom ends of said pair of arms being flared toward the sides of the container, the pair of arms being offset just above said cross arm to substantially parallel portions spaced apart a distance at least as great as the diameter of the body of the socket and of the electric heating element carried thereby, the heating element being a comparatively small lamp bulb.

ELISHA STARR WINN, SR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 746,848 Klumpp Dec. 15, 1903 1,545,858 Smith July 14, 1925 1,880,982 Rawlings Oct. 4, 1932 Re. 16,722 Cary Aug. 30, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 16,897 Great Britain 1895 

